Wolf Children: Our Nature
by SweeneyGirl310593
Summary: Yuki and her husband fall on hard times so have to move back in with Hana. While there, their daughter Isshoni will both learn and teach important life lessons to those she meets. Sorry bad summery. Was inspired by the beautiful original. I apologise for errors in Japanese culture and details of the original. Let me know how I do :-)
1. Chapter 1

"Aki, are you ready yet?" Yuki Sato called exasperatedly up the stairs.

"Hold on a minute Mum, I can't find my charger!" Her son's muffled yell replied.

"And you didn't think about this last night because?" Yuki rubbed her eyes. He was deliberately stalling. He had only started packing a week ago in the hope that the move wouldn't materialise, another throwaway plan like his father's brief attempt at learning the violin. The family had had barely ten 'big' arguments in thier life together and most of them had been in the past four months. Ever since her husband Sohei had lost his job at the magazine only a year after she herself had lost hers. With no money coming in, they had been offered a home with Yuki's mother until they got back on thier feet. The only problem with this arrangement was proximity to the city of Kamurra, or lack of it. Hana lived in a quaint house deep in picturesque, mountainous countryside with only a few close knit neighbours nearby. The nearest thing resembling a town was almost an hour's drive away. It wasn't ideal but Yuki and Sohei were practical people and were very grateful for Hana's offer. After all she was used to having her own space and, while she loved her grandchildren's company, living with them would be a lot to adjust to. Isshoni, her daughter was looking forward to the change of scenery and to seeing her grandmother. Besides, the ten year old was a very easy going person.

Yuki's older child, Akihito, was a different story. He loved the hustle and bustle of the city, his school and his friends and had reminded them all of his hay fever. "I won't be able to breathe in the country! It's too green!"

"Oh Aki, don't be a drama king!" Isshoni had laughed.

"I am not!" Akihito had responded dramatically.

Finally he emerged, hair over his eyes, headphones in and a sulky expression on his face.

Yuki flicked the dark head of hair "gonna have to get this cut when we get to Grandma's"

Aki grunted by way of reply and sat down next to Isshoni. "Bye, house!" She grinned.

"Do you have to be so cheerful about it?" Her brother snapped.

"I thought you had your music on?"

"We do kind of have super sensitive hearing you know."

She frowned "you know what you are? A misery guts!"

"Not"

"Yes you are! Misery guts!"

"Dad! Tell her!"

"Kids! Please. Can we have a nice peaceful trip?" Sohei called from behind the paintings lodged between the front and back seats "we're on the road for about five hours and I dont want to listen to you moaning all the way!"

"I wasn't moaning!" Isshoni said with an angelic smile, showing her wolf ears to enhance the sweet expression. Sohei's family brought a new literal meaning to the expression 'puppy dog eyes'. His wife and her brother were half Wolf Child and both the children had inherited thier mother's ability to transform to resemble the magnificent creature. However, their changes required more concentration than Yuki's, which were as easy as blinking. In fact, Isshoni had only recently been able to hold a partial wolf form for more than a few minutes, dispite having enhanced senses from birth. The night she had done it she had woken everyone in the house to show them. It was one of the few times in recent years they had seen Aki excited about anything outside of a computer screen. Despite thier bickering, he did like to see his sister's goofy brand of happiness. Just not today.

* * *

After a long, tiring but pretty drive, the family pulled into the familiar yard. As always, Hana was already outside, hard at work with her greying hair in a messy bun. This time, she was busy scattering grain to some new animals. "Chickens!" Isshoni loved animals of all kinds and found birds in particular fascinating, despite her heritage.

"Say hello to your grandmother first!" Yuki frowned.

"Oh sorry. Hi, Grammy. How are you?" Isshoni asked her with a hug.

"Better for seeing you, dear. Knew you'd like these guys. Now we can bake with our own eggs."

"Can we make a cake tonight, Grammy?"

"Slow down, Issy, let us all settle in first, eh?" Sohei called "hello Hana!"

"Sohei! You're looking well!"

Yuki nudged her son after greeting her mother. He pulled the headphones down to the neck and waved to Hana.

"My, my is that my grandson? He's at least a foot too tall!"

"Can we not do this Grandma?" He raised his eyebrows but hugged her anyway.

"Come on in, everyone. I'm making Grandad Special!"

Even Akihito's eyes lit up at that. When they were first married, Hana's late husband had showed her how to make an amazing chicken kebab like dish with a delicious sauce. It was still the whole family's favourite but none of them could replicate it like Hana. She maintained that she wasn't as good as Canis was at the meal. One of many reasons Issy wished she'd known him. "Hi Grandad" she said as she passed the ID card and vase collection that served as the family shrine "we're gonna be staying for a while so it might be a bit noisy."

"I told him you were all coming" Hana smiled, putting an affectionate hand on her granddaughter's slim shoulders "wanna test the sauce for me?"

She followed her into the kitchen, like a row of ducklings "hey, Grammy, guess what?"

"Ooh, the sky's turned purple?"

"No! I can do transformations now. Not properly but I'm gonna practice! And here's the perfect place, right?"

"That's great honey. You see, I told you you'd get there." Hana ruffled Issy's dark hair "maybe wait till tomorrow before you go howling at the moon, though, eh?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Aki, check out this caterpillar" Isshoni yelled to her brother. The creature was quite a find, its skin glistened like oil on water and it was covered in greenish hairs. She hoped it was a new species so she could name it and have her name in encyclopaedias. She gently picked it up and put it in the base of a jar, half full of weeds she had yanked up from the courtyard earlier. She shouted to Aki again with a laugh.

"Wait a minute Issy, I'm talking to Siko!" Akihito turned back to his mobile, wandering back inside. Isshoni overheard him talking to his best friend "really? That crazy? Oh man I wish I could be there. There's nothing to do here. Just hang out with Issy. Is so boring, man."

"There would be stuff to do if you took any notice" Issy muttered, her good humor evaporating. She was normally tolerant of her brother's ways and even found them amusing but he had been even more disinterested than normal these few weeks and all her plans for thier hikes in the woods, collecting stones to paint and animal watching seemed to be evaporating.

"You alright there, kiddo?" Asked the voice of her grandma. She looked up to find her carrying a tottering pile of washing. "Want a hand, Grammy?"

"That would be helpful, yes!" Hana replied. Isshoni stuck the jar in her shorts pocket and took the top half of Hana's load. Once they had deposited the pile on the floor of the cleaning room Hana turned to face her granddaughter "now, what's Aki done? You two don't seem...quite right these past few weeks."

"It's not really what he's done. It's what he can do but won't if that makes sense."

"Go on" said Hana gently, sitting on the upturned laundry basket and patting the bench next to her.

"It just seems so unfair, that's all. Akihito can transform properly, he's been able to ever since I remember. But he's not interested. He doesn't care that he can do it. It's not special to him. He doesn't use it. He doesn't even like nature! Why does he get to be the one that's good at it and not me?"

"Issy, dear, you can't force someone to enjoy something they are good at. Normally you do anyway but he doesn't have to use it if he doesn't want to."

"That's what Mum and Dad say. But why? I mean, there might be a reason for us to have these powers." Issy had always thought of thier condition as a superhuman ability and liked to imagine that they were destined for a purpose.

"Oh, Issy. It's just genetics that's all. It's up to you how you use what you can do."

"But if we're meant to do good, shouldn't we? Like, like superheroes. Like what Uncle Ben in Spiderman says, with great power comes great reponcibility." She said grandly.

Hana laughed at the mispronounciation. "You know I could see you being a superhero. Shall I make you a cape?"

"Grammy! Look I just wish I could transform as easy as him. I'm the one that actually cares about it."

"You just have to give yourself time, Issy. Besides, I don't think he doesn't care about it. He just takes it for granted because he can do it so easily. I bet he'd miss it if it was taken away. You just have to keep on practicing. Besides, there's plenty of other things you're brilliant at. That drawing you made me of the wolf and the eagle. You could put it in a gallery!"

Isshoni gave her a sideways look "am I better than Aki?"

"Issy, that's not fair. You're both equal. Don't try to be anything but the best you, okay? Now, why don't I take you two down to the creek?"

Isshoni laughed "if Aki's off his phone."

"I dread to think how much that thing is costing your poor parents! Let's go see."

"Hold on a minute" Issy ran to the room she was sharing with her brother and placed her jar in a shady spot next to the window "see you later, little guy". The caterpillar seemed to be too preoccupied with munching through a stalk to take much notice. 

* * *

Half an hour later, the three of them had packed a lunch and were down by the small bridge that Hana and a group of local farmers had built across the creek. Her son had fallen into the waters in the freezing winter months once and it had drawn the local community's attention to the dangers posed by needing to cross. It was a simple, sturdy construction that Akihito and Isshoni were currently sprawled over, watching the pooh sticks they had set sail emerge on the other side. Hana's favourite sight in the world was watching her grandchildren at play.

"This is so relaxing" Aki was saying to his sister.

"See, told you you'd like it." She said. After a few minutes of furtively glancing his way she jumped up suddenly and slapped him on the shoulder "tag!"

Aki shrieked in surprise and promptly tumbled head first into the water, much to isshoni's amusement "right, I'll get you! C'mere!"

"Issy squealed and ran into the trees, only distantly aware of Hana's warning not to go too far. After all, she and her brother were better able to find thier way home than most kids. After a minute or so she found herself instinctively on all fours, her fingers becoming shorter and sharper. She shook her hair and velvet ears sprang from it. "Come on, Aki. Do the transformation!" She laughed. With an eye roll, he too jumped to all fours and was following his sister as a wolf. The ground dipped sharply into a hollow and Issy fell in with a yelp and a tangle of long limbs. "Gotcha!" Aki crowed, leaping on top of her. They rolled away from each other with a laugh. Isshoni turned to the blue sky and gave a howl which her brother soon joined.

Once they stopped, another canine song replied. "Is that Uncle Ame?" Asked Issy of her grandmother, who had just caught up to them. She and Aki had met thier maternal uncle only three times and neither could remember him that well. Hana and Yuki had told them about how this was because he had taken the place of his Sensei as guardian of the mountains and the creatures that inhabited them. In private, Issy had overheard her mother saying she wished he would occasionally concern himself with his own family. At the time Hana had been recovering from a broken wrist and to thier knowlege Ame hadn't visited for a number of days afterwards. All this had made Uncle Ame quite a mystical figure in the children's eyes. Isshoni had always longed to meet him properly. Perhaps he could teach her how to express a true wolf form since he had chosen to spend the majority of his life in his own.  
"Yes, dear. Just doing his rounds". Suddenly there was another, deeper howl, joined by a chorus.

"Who are they?" Asked Isshoni.

"Yeah, I thought we were the only ones round here" Aki frowned.

"I don't know..." Hana gazed deeper into the forest. The two children stared in the same direction searchingly. Hana gave a shudder which seemed to snap her out of her reverie. "Come on kids, who fancies some lunch?"


	3. Chapter 3

"So, kids, what did you do with Grandma today?" Asked Sohei the following night at dinner.

"Went down to the creek again. Me and Aki caught a fish! It was huge!" Isshoni placed her hands a foot apart.

"It's been getting bigger all afternoon" Akihito observed dryly, earning him a stuck out tounge from his sister.

"We'll make a naturalist out of him yet, won't we my girl?" Hana smiled.

"What's that?"

"Someone who loves studying plants and animals." Responded her father.

"Hey, I'm one of those natureists!" The rest of the family snorted with laughter, much to Issy's confusion. After a few minutes of quiet eating Yuki spoke "well everyone, we have some good news. Your father and I had interviews yesterday and we got the jobs! We're going into town to look at getting a new apartment tomorrow."

"Wow cool! We going back to our old school?" Aki asked.

"Should be. We didn't tell you yesterday because we didn't want to dissapoint you. We should be out from under your feet soon, Hana. Thank you so much for putting us up." Sohei replied.

"Really, kids, it was my pleasure!" Hana smiled "well done the both of you. You deserve it!"

"Wait till I tell the others!" Aki smiled "should be back before term starts."

The fifth person at the table felt less than jubilant, however. Isshoni had been secretly hoping that they would have to start school here and she could stay in the countryside with Hana longer. If they found somewhere to live in the city in the next few weeks, her hopes for meeting Ame were dashed too. She was strangely quiet the rest of the evening and went to bed early. The others blamed it on tiredness but her brother thought he knew better. When he strode into the room they were sharing a while later he flopped down on his bed with the opening line "okay, what's going on? You've been miserable as hell all night!"

"It's...oh nothing, you wouldn't get it"

"Try me" he said, rolling on his side to face her, squinting against the bright moonlight.

"I don't wanna go" she replied thickly.

"C'mon Issy! Look it's been a nice holiday and all but we have to go home. We're city kids, we don't belong here" he yawned "it's too late for this, I'll see you in the morning okay?"

Isshoni frowned at her brothers back and rolled over towards the window, staring at her caterpillar pet as he slowly shifted his form around his little home "maybe I do" she murmured in response to Aki's comment before closing her eyes with a sigh.

* * *

Over the next couple of days Issy was uncharacteristically quiet. Hana noticed and asked her to share what was troubling her. Issy's reticence and Hana's reluctance to pry meant it only came to a head that night at dinner time when Yuki announced that she and Sohei had found a new apartment "and so reasonable too! A bit smaller than we were looking for but you've got to take what you can get. It's only down the road from the arcade place. That should please you, Aki." Akihito was looking slightly nervously at the rapidly pinking face of his sister.

"What's the matter Issy? You've been off all weekend" asked her mother "you not feeling well?"

"Well, it's just...you see I..." She bit her lip before blurting "I don't wanna go!" She stood and ran out of the room. "I'll talk to her" Sohei told Yuki, leaving the other three to finish in awkward silence.

* * *

Sohei knocked on the bedroom door "Isshoni? It's Dad." He took her lack of answer as permission to come in. She was sprawled across her bed, staring at her caterpillar in it's jar. "So, what's that all about, huh?"

"I thought we were gonna stay. I thought you and Mum were gonna get jobs here and we could live in the country with Grammy."

"Oh Issy, that was always temporary!"

"Yeah, it's just I've really got to like it here."

"It's not just that, is it Issy?" Her father always had been perceptive.

"Well since I've been here my transformations have been getting better. I'm almost there and if I meet Uncle Ame..."

"Look Issy, I've never even seen your uncle since he was a teenager. Even your Grammy's only seen him about five times since Aki was born. Hes only seen you once through a window. He's just not...one of us anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"He chose the forest above his family. Barely said goodbye to them. That's not the person you want to be like, Issy." Sohei reached out to her.

"I don't know what I want to be. That's what I wanna find out!"

"Plenty of time for that!" Smiled Sohei.

"Please, Dad. Can't you try to understand?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses "look, I'll talk to your Mother and Grandma tonight okay?"

Her face lit up "what you mean...?"

"Hold on, kiddo! I can't promise anything but we'll see tomorrow, okay? Now, you gonna come and have dessert?". She replied with a nod. As they went back into the dining room, Yuki gave her husband a questioning look and he shook his head minutely. "Later" he mouthed.

* * *

The whole of the next morning, Issy was waiting for her father to bring up what they had talked about last night. Finally Yuki called her out in the kitchen to have a 'family chat'. The family was sat round the table. "Your father talked to us last night Issy and we were wondering how you would feel about staying here for a little while longer?"

"Yeah!"

"Also, it would probably be on your own. Would that be okay? Me and your father just can't put off this job right now."

"Why?" Issy asked, looking confused between her mother and father.

"Well, we found out a couple of weeks ago that you're gonna be a big sister!"

Issy gaped for so long that her family were rather nervous about how she had taken the news. Thier fears were assuaged when she flung her arms around her parent's necks. Aki laughed "told ya she'd be happy. Don't worry! I only knew about ten minutes ago."

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" She yelled "is it a boy or girl?"

"Dunno, Issy" Sohei grinned "we wanted a surprise this time seeing as we found out for you and your brother."

"This is...wow!"

"So, you wanna stay for a bit? We can get the place ready before you come back. It needs a bit of work."

"Really? Is that okay, Grammy?"

"Fine dear."

Isshoni's smile was answer enough.

* * *

A.N. Sorry took so long. Told you it would be sporadic! Let me know what you think. The plot arrives next chapter hopefully lol . Hope to see you guys then...


End file.
